Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Broadway Continues Upward Trend in Audience Growth, Up 13% in 2014

The Broadway League reports robust holiday attendance and grosses and a strong start to 2015. The week ending December 28, 2014 and the week ending January 4, 2015 were the highest attended and highest grossing on Broadway in recorded history.

“For the last 12 months, we’ve seen an exciting increase of 13% in Broadway attendance, demonstrating that our producers are giving audiences a variety of plays and musicals to please many tastes. Season-to-date, attendance is up 14%, following last year’s end-of-season audience increase of 5.6%,” said Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director of The Broadway League. “With record-breaking holiday weeks including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s – plus seasonal and calendar-year records, it reinforces that there really is a show for everyone. In addition to long-running favorites, audiences are enthusiastic about the new shows too.”

According to the Broadway League, 2014 was the best attended and highest grossing calendar year on Broadway. The total gross was $1.362 billion and total attendance was 13.13 million. This includes the 52 weeks beginning the week ending Sunday, January 5, 2014 through the week ending Sunday, December 28, 2014. There was a 13% increase in attendance and a 14% increase in grosses over the 2013 calendar year, with 1,631 playing weeks over 1,395 playing weeks.

Week 31 of the current Broadway season (the week ending Sunday, December 28, 2014), was the best attended and highest grossing Christmas week on Broadway in recorded history. Week 32 (the week ending Sunday, January 4, 2015), was the best attended and highest grossing New Year’s week, and the best attended and highest grossing week on Broadway overall to date.

The total attendance for the week ending December 28, 2014 was 318,721 (an increase of 28,335 from last season) and the total gross was $40,993,950 (an increase of $2.2 million from last season). The total attendance for the week ending January 4, 2015 was 346,913 (an increase of 93,183 from last season) and total gross was $42,773,882 (an increase of $11,630,212 from last season).

As of week 32 (week ending Sunday, January 4, 2015), season-to-date attendance is 8,244,043 admissions, a 14% increase from this time last season, and season-to-date gross is $876,873,195, a 14% increase from this time last season.

There were 36 shows playing during this past Christmas week, compared to 30 shows last year during the same week. There were 37 shows playing during New Year’s week, compared to 30 shows during the same week last season.